If there’s someone to blame for my obsession with movies, you must point a finger at three specific people. The first two are Ian Fleming and Albert R. Broccoli and the third is their shared creation. The first had the idea and the second personified him as a touchstone of cinematic history; their product is Agent 007, James Bond. The Bond franchise lit the cinema fire inside me, becoming a twenty-plus entry film series that I watched in a consistent cycle until I remembered every line, every plot detail, and every minute aspect that comprised the film as a whole. No matter how good or how bad, I devoured each and ever Bond film countless times over, never tiring of them. My attraction to franchises in general and falling in love with the mythologies of various series’ started only after I had unearthed the forty-year-old Bond franchise.
I knew my love for the Bond series had reached an incomparable height when one late night, during my sophomore year of college, after returning from a weekend of work in a different state, I, on a whim and without hesitation, purchased the entire Bond Blu-ray DVD set at an Amazon Gold Box price. It rests proudly in my DVD case as my most prized possession. Those twenty-three films make up my favorite cinematic franchise of all time.
It should come as no surprise then that every sampling of news regarding the newest Bond film is always of the most important news to me. And as we learned last fall, this year’s upcoming Bond flick, “Spectre,” has the potential to be another franchise highlight even with it entering on the heels of “Skyfall.” “Skyfall,” as I will attest to, is a franchise high bar. Critics adored it, it made over a billion dollars worldwide, and it was nominated for five Oscars of which it won two. The third Daniel Craig-fronted Bond film was an all-around winner. Hell, it even made Adele an Oscar winner, that’s historic in and of itself.
“Spectre” has a hard act to follow, but given the steady feed of attractive promotional material, it isn’t struggling to incite widespread excitement. Directly referencing the deadly organization created by Fleming as Bond’s primary nemesis in the original novels, the film “Spectre” will mark the first time that the eponymous syndicate has been explicitly involved in the proceedings since the last of the Connery films. Headed by the dastardly Ernst Stavro Blofeld – an iconic franchise villain who appeared in three consecutive films though played by three different actors – the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion was originally envisioned as a formidable third party during the Cold War, but ultimately signifies a conglomeration of criminal organizations known for manufacturing circumstances that exhaust the defensive resources of powerful nations leaving them vulnerable to domination. They were a more a timely opposition when the books and early films were produced, but Sam Mendes’ upcoming film looks to contemporize them for the modern Bond viewers.
Beyond one-sheets, set videos, a couple featurettes, and still frames, our first definitive look at “Spectre” came this evening in the form of a teaser trailer. The lean spot – just over ninety seconds – was sparse on notable Bond moments but significant in terms of mood and trajectory. There’s a lot to love in this first trailer, hinting at way more than it dares to show. The marketing campaign for “Skyfall” operated under similar pretenses and if that’s any indication where this one could be going, then we’re in for a real treat. Could “Spectre” appropriately follow suit? I react to the trailer below:
Why We’re Excited:
Hoyte Van Hoytema: Admirers of the visual aesthetic will undoubtedly be wowed by the alluring camerawork on display in these first few glimpses of the new Sam Mendes film. After having lensed Spike Jonze’s Oscar-winning “Her” and the Christopher Nolan epic, “Interstellar,” the Swiss cinematographer has stepped into the very big shoes left by “Skyfall” DP, Roger Deakins, to give the 24th Bond film it’s sterling new look. Deakins, a cinematographic messiah, was nominated for an Oscar for his work on “Skyfall,” but a contract with the Coen Brothers’ “Hail Ceasar!” opened up the opportunity to Van Hoytema, who in direct contrast to the legendary Deakins, is of the most exciting new cinematographers on the scene. With three movies behind Craig and one behind Mendes, this teaser does right by the film’s most important newbie and promotes the absolute hell out of Van Hoytema’s skills. Piggybacking on Deakins’ uber-polished digital brushstrokes, the return to 35mm is refreshing, plus the stark contrasts resonate in the steep shadows perforated by chilling neutral scenery and tantalizing golden hues. The sober modernity of the Craig films continues in Van Hoytema’s hands, but what remains to be seen is how he goes about capturing action, and speaking of action…
Bond, Stern Bond: …the “Spectre” teaser advertises not even a single frame of it. This shockingly moody trailer plays up tone way more than action, barely even teasing the inclusion of a gun let alone explosions and car chases. Though it’s broadly disappointing, it’s most likely for the better. “Skyfall” was picked on for being so grim and hard-faced, but it’s likely that “Spectre” will continue that, as the storyline picks up directly after the tragic finale of the previous film. Bond is as much a ruin as the blown apart MI6; coming face to face with a repressed piece of his past that impacts lives both personal and professional. Though the inclusion of SPECTRE (and the evocative twinkling of the Bond theme song arranged by the returning Thomas Newman) may suggest an elder variation on the overall property, the dour feeling that has encapsulated the Craig era seems to still be intact.
One Sequel to Rule Them All: “Quantum of Solace” may rank amongst the worst films in the franchise, but at the very least it attempted something that no other Bond film had ever tried: It was a direct sequel. Sean Connery starred in six films total and Roger Moore in seven, consecutively, but none of their films ever immediately followed the film that preceded it. However, “Quantum,” despite being a withered victim of the writer’s strike, looked to continue the story trickling at the end of “Casino Royale” hoping to tie it into a larger, SPECTRE-like terrorist organization that ended up being a severe bust. “Skyfall” became a headstrong rerouting proving that the already revamped franchise still had legs. Now “Spectre” looks to be continuing both stories suggesting that writers Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan have found a serviceable way to lace the threads from “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace” into the seemingly separate plot points of “Skyfall.” We’re getting what could be a summation of the Craig era films, possibly signifying an end to the actor’s tenure as Bond, or at least a streamlining into the forthcoming finales.
MaGuffins: And while the teaser is definitely short and surprisingly dramatic, it’s still a perfectly tailored, pronounced piece of marketing. In fact, it’s actually pretty bold the amount of story the trailer is insinuating, but the clever construction still makes it wholly dissectible. First and foremost, is Christoph Waltz definitely playing Blofeld as many pegged him to be from the moment his name first surfaced as a casting rumor? The stylish lighting at the end of the trailer coupled with his striking voiceover would indicate as much, but a link to the Fleming novels has been tossed down by Sony and evidenced in the trailer itself. Following the official casting announcements, Waltz was listed as Franz Oberhauser, a possible descendant of Hans Oberhauser, James Bond’s ski instructor and father figure following the untimely death of his parents. Discovered in the remnants of Skyfall, Moneypenny presents Bond with a box in which resides a mysterious photo of, possibly, a young Bond with the elder Oberhauser on a ski slope. Next to the photo is a temporary certificate of guardianship listing a certain H. Oberhauser as Bond’s new guardian, which guarantees a tie to the Fleming sources. Is that young Franz in the photo with James and his father? What happened between the two boys or to Hans that could set Franz on a murderous collision course with James? Is he in a power position at SPECTRE? Or, is it possible that we are barking up the wrong tree, and there’s a different villain lurking in the wings?
During the Sony hack, after an early draft of “Spectre” leaked online, a rumor surfaced that Waltz’s Oberhauser was a classic ‘MacGuffin’ protecting the reveal of the film’s true villain who is to be played by “Sherlock’s” Andrew Scott. Best known for playing Moriarty on the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring BBC gem, Scott won a role that was originally touted as the film’s ‘big bad’ having been primarily offered to Chiwetel Ejiofer following the massive success of “12 Years a Slave.” Ejiofer passed, but Scott’s casting was undercut by the reports of Waltz coming aboard, which immediately shifted public attention toward the two-time Oscar winner. And speaking of Oscars, if Blofeld is to be involved in a way reminiscent of his multi-film appearance in the Connery era, it’d probably be easier to nab Andrew Scott for a multi-film deal instead of a well-known Academy Award winner. I would be truly surprised if Waltz ended up appearing in more Bond films that just “Spectre.”
Though there is much more (notably, where is Ralph Fiennes in this trailer?) these are the most prominent thoughts that jumped into my head. There will most definitely be another one down the line, probably attached to some major Sony summer release, but it’s important to remember that “Spectre” is still filming, with some of it’s most demanding sequences still ahead. The production hasn’t been shy of sharing it’s progress and, for me anyway, it feels like barely any time has passed since the first major details about “Spectre” were released. It goes to show just how quickly this year is progressing. Before we know it, we’ll have a new “Star Wars” playing in theaters around us, and by that point, “Spectre” will be close to a month old.
The next big question I have is who will have the confidence to follow Adele and sing “Spectre’s” theme song?
“Spectre” will hit U.S. theaters on November 6th, 2015
Article by Mike Murphy
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